2.7

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
54,000 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2003 Volkswagen Beetle:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #1

Jan 272006

Beetle 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 54,000 miles
Had just entered freeway, going probably 55 mph, when there was a loud noise and the car was out of control. Thought the tire had blown, but the rim actually had a hole in it, with the impact direction going away from the tire, like it imploded. Had to maneuver car to side of freeway and stop. Put spare tire on car and took blown-out rim and tire to dealer. Tire was fine, they refused to do anything about the rim because we were out of warranty on the car, even though it was a defective rim that could have caused a much more harmful accident. Took car to tire shop and they had never seen anything like it before; ordered new rim and ended up putting same tire on new rim.

- Yucaipa, CA, USA